Data-breach costs take toll on Target profit

NEW YORK (AP) - Target Corp says the massive data breach over the holidays helped push its profit down 46 percent. The discount retailer said Wednesday that sales fell 5.3 percent as the breach scared off customers. Target says it earned $520 million, or 81 cents per share, for the three months that ended Feb. 1. That compares with a profit of $961 million, or $1.47 per share, a year earlier. Revenue fell to $21.5 billion from $22.7 billion. Revenue at stores open at least a year fell 2.5 percent. Analysts had expected a profit of 80 cents on revenue of $21.5 billion, according to FactSet. The company also offered a profit outlook for the current quarter that is below Wall Street estimates.